Triple Gr 1 winner Daffodil has been retired and the very best WS bloodlines will see the home-bred pin-up girl visit Pins this coming season. The Chittick family's daughter of No Excuse Needed enjoyed an outstanding racing career that saw her meet and beat the cream of Australasia's best gallopers.

Daffodil was lightly-tried as a juvenile with a win and a placing from three appearances and she blossomed in her classic year with runner-up finishes in the Gr 3 Gold Trail Stakes and the Listed Wanganui Fillies' Stakes before she ventured south to Riccarton off a Rating 80 defeat of the older horses at Hawera. Produced in tip-top order by trainer Kevin Gray, she impressively accounted for the high-class Juice in the Gr 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas.

Daffodil was given time to get over her firm track exploits and returned with two further victories and a Gr 3 Lowland Stakes success before she tackled the Gr 1 New Zealand Oaks. She was a certainty beaten at Trentham where she roared home for fourth after her gate had failed to open with the rest of the field. She filled a similar placing in the Gr Manawatu Classic and then jetted to Sydney for the Gr 1 AJC Oaks.

Relishing the cut in the Randwick track, Daffodil cruised away with the 2400 metre feature in the hands of Hugh Bowman.

She came back to WS to spell and was back to her brilliant best in the spring of her four-year-old season to claim the Gr 1 Windsor Park Plate and finished fourth in the Gr 1 Kelt Capital Stakes after clearing a pocket late in the piece. Daffodil then hit Melbourne and ran a brave fourth in the Gr 1 Caulfield Cup but luck was against her in the Gr 1 Melbourne Cup and she finished midfield after a chequered passage.

She appeared four times earlier this year with a fresh-up win at New Plymouth and placed in the Gr 1 Otaki-Maori WFA before a final Australian visit that resulted in a close fourth in the Gr 1 Ranvet Stakes and a creditable fifth in the Gr 1 BMW Stakes.

"She has achieved a great deal on the track, winning Gr 1's in Australia and New Zealand and she took a little longer to show a spring in her step after her last campaign, following a bit of wear and tear," Mark Chittick said. "With stakes as they are, she would now need to win a race like the Caulfield Cup and a good colt by Pins might bring a similar result.